Author's Note: This is a random idea that came to me, and I couldn't get rid of until I had written it. It is intended to be single shot, but I may decide at some point to expand it.

I added another 2,000 words. It has been fun to write and it is a distraction from other stuff that I actually should be doing.

The Man-Cold

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a stubborn man who hates being coddled, will be an absolute bear when sick. And when said bear encounters a feisty red head, with the temper to match, sparks will no doubt fly.

Elizabeth Bennet was still fuming from her encounter with her boss, Fitzwilliam Darcy. When she had approached him to ask what he thought of her project this morning, he had glared at her for a moment before curtly saying that her baby, the project she had dedicated so much time to over the last month, was "Tolerable, I suppose." She had glared back at him before turning on her heel and marching away, afraid that if she spoke as she thought at that moment, she would be filing unemployment before the day was over.

Darcy found himself accosted by his sister, Anna, and his cousin, Edward. "William," Anna cried. "Whatever is wrong with you? I am amazed Lizzie did not tear into you for your comment; she was clearly livid. I would expect her to say something to you before the day is over."

Tiredly, he ran his fingers through his hair. "Why would she do that? She asked me how I was and I replied appropriately, I thought. I have no idea why she stomped off as she did."

Edward laughed loudly, causing several people to turn their head to look. "You should not have even come to work today, Will. You are clearly feeling awful, so awful in fact you cannot hear correctly. Lizzie was not asking you how you felt, as she likely could not tell you were sick. She was asking you about her project, the one she has been working on for the last month and that you were planning to enter into the robotics competition next month."

Darcy reviewed what he had heard and how he had answered. The cold was making him slow, so it took him a minute to catch up.

"Good Lord," he said after a long moment had passed. "I need to apologize and clarify my comment. I have been impressed by her project every step of the way."

Anna looked at him, a mixture of sympathy and long-suffering on her face. "Yes, you do. And then you need to go home and sleep off your cold. You can go home and not come back into the office for at least 48 hours or I will call Aunt Catherine."

"I will go home willingly, Anna. Please do not call in Catty," Darcy pleaded.

It took several minutes of searching before Darcy found Elizabeth pacing in the small garden area outside the cafeteria.

"Miss Bennet," he said when he saw her. She turned and glared at him. "I owe you a rather significant apology. I completely misheard your question earlier and answered what I thought I heard, rather than what you actually asked. Your robot is brilliant; I have been regularly reading the notes on it and I am hoping we can enter it into the competition next month."

"Oh," she said blankly after a moment. "Thank you. If I may, what question were you answering then?"

"I thought you were inquiring after my health," said he. "I was, or actually, I am feeling rather miserable. My sister and cousin have ordered me home, immediately after I apologized to you."

"You were told to apologize?" she fired at him.

"Yes, er, well no, but, um, sort of," he stammered. Taking a breath, he attempted to compose his thoughts. "They pointed out that I had misheard your question and that I had offended you rather seriously. Since they know what I think of you, they saw what I did not when you stalked off. My head is rather stopped up and I was simply confused about what had happened. As soon as I realized how I had responded to your question, it all made sense and I came in search of you."

"So, they merely pointed out to you that you had misheard and then you realized you need to apologize on your own," she clarified.

"Yes," he said, feeling relieved that she understood. "Of course, replying that I felt tolerable was probably an overstatement of how I truly feel, and right now, I feel as though I must sit."

Elizabeth quickly moved beside the rather large man as he appeared to be staggering slightly. "Lean on me, but don't fall, Mr. Darcy, I do not believe I can keep you from falling. Let us get you inside and to a table, and then I will call Anna." She slipped her arm around his waist and gently guided him to one of the tables closest to the door. "Sit here, sir."

"Name is William," he mumbled slightly.

"Yes, William, you sit here, and I will let Anna know what happened and see what we need to do next," she placated, as she began texting his sister what had happened outside with him.

"I like you, Miss Bennet," he mumbled again.

She smiled softly. "I like you too, William."

"Want to ask you out, but it's complicated," he mumbled.

"Complicated," she asked, uncertain if she should continue this conversation, but suddenly very interested in this conversation.

"You work for me … under me … sexual harassment and the like," he muttered. "Complicated."

"Ahh," she replied. "Is there a policy against it."

"Not officially," he said, obviously groggy. "But women have said yes before just so they could sleep with the boss. Don't want that with you. I like you too much."

"I wouldn't date you just for the opportunity to sleep with the boss," she said, blushing brightly. "I do genuinely like you, when you're not being insufferable."

He laughed at that, and looked at her closely, although she could see what she hadn't earlier. He was glassy-eyed. "Did you take medicine this morning?" she suddenly asked.

"Yes, I took some medicine I had in the cabinet," he replied, feeling confused.

"Did it have alcohol in it, I wonder," she mumbled.

"The shot of whisky certainly did," he told her.

She chuckled and then looked down at her phone. "It certainly did, Will. Anna says to help you to the garage and she will get you home."

"Will you stay with me?" he asked, sounding a lot like a little boy in his request. "Anna isn't very good at nursing."

"And you think I am?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You have done well so far," he replied, then chuckled, which caused him to cough. When he could speak, he said, "She's only tolerable, but you are far, far better than that."

Again, she blushed, something she hadn't done since she was a kid. Something about the way he asked got to her, and she wanted to help him. "Let's get you up and see if we can get you to a car without falling. Are you sure it was only one shot of whisky?"

"It may have been more than one," he said tiredly. "My head and my throat hurt so bad."

"While whisky may help cure a cold, you're supposed to stay in bed after you drink it," she reprimanded him.

"I'll stay in bed if you'll stay with me," he flirted groggily, as he leaned heavily against her to keep him upright.

"Behave, Mr. Darcy," she told him.

"I liked it better when you called me Will," he pouted.

"Then behave," she reprimanded, then stopped to force him to look at her. "We are about to go into the lobby. Can you walk without my support? Otherwise, I can only imagine the gossip going around the office this afternoon."

"I can walk," he said, pulling himself upright and away from her. "For at least a few minutes. Please stay near me Elizabeth."

They made their way through the lobby, although he faltered as soon as they left. Once again, she wrapped her arm around his waist and he leaned on her. When she noticed Anna, she led him in that direction. Between the two of them, they managed to get him into the front passenger seat.

"Why aren't I driving," he asked.

"William, you are too sick to drive," Anna protested.

"Sick and a little drunk," Elizabeth said under her breath. "He used a shot or twelve of whisky this morning to help the medicine work better." Both women rolled their eyes at him.

Anna started to tell Elizabeth thank you and goodbye, when Darcy protested, looking at Elizabeth. "No, don't say goodbye; you agreed to come and be my nurse while I am sick."

She colored once again and looked at Anna, who only smiled. "William has never appreciated my nursing him," she told Elizabeth. "Hop in."

—

William woke up feeling far more miserable than he had the previous day. In addition to the sore throat and slight headache, his brain now felt as though someone had tap danced across it. His mouth was dry and mealy, and the slightest movement made his headache worse.

A melodic voice he normally adored called out, much too loudly as she entered. "Good morning, William. How is the patient?"

Confused, William attempted to respond, but struggled to form appropriate words with the cotton feel of his mouth. She quickly handed him a glass of water which he gratefully drank. "I feel awful," he said, "and terribly confused. Please do not take this the wrong way, but why are you in my house?"

She laughed, again a sound he normally enjoyed, but this morning he winced at the sound. Softly, she spoke, "Ahh, you have a hangover on top of the cold. Another reason copious amounts of whisky is not a great cure. I am here, Mr. Darcy, because you told me you would prefer me to nurse you rather than your sister. Apparently, she is not very compassionate, and you hoped I would be more so."

"Forgive me, but what did you say about whisky?" he asked, latching on to that part of his explanation.

She laughed again, that tinkling, beautiful sound he loved, made more palatable by the glass of water. "You confessed to me after your apology that you had taken some 'medicinal whisky' to aid your cold. One thing that neither Anna nor I were able to determine was exactly how much you drank. You mentioned a shot or two but judging from the glass beside the half-empty bottle, we think you may have drunk rather large shots.

"After we had spoken for a minute or two in the garden at work, you became rather unsteady, and I had to help you inside. We think the medicine you took, and the alcohol may have interacted to make you appear more drunk than you actually were."

"How long have I been asleep? And how did I get here?" Then, looking down at himself in bed, he asked another question, "And how did I get undressed."

Elizabeth blushed as she remembered. "Anna and I brought you home yesterday morning. You have been asleep most of the last 24 hours. Between she and I, and yourself, of course, we were able to get you to her car, although the getting you into it was amusing, but not as entertaining as getting you out of it. After that debacle, we helped you to your apartment, and by the way, Mr. Darcy …"

He interrupted her. "Please, call me William. Although I vaguely remember you calling me Will a time or two as well. You are in my bedroom; we can at least be that informal with each other."

"You asked me to call you Will or William before, but I didn't want to presume," she replied. "Anyway, William, you are awfully handsy when you are drunk, and revealed a rather wicked sense of humor." He blushed, which amused Elizabeth greatly. "Back to our story, Anna and I got you into the apartment and you took off your suit jacket and shoes immediately. You tried to offer both of us more liquor, and Anna ended up hiding the bottles for now, so you could not dose yourself anymore until you are well.

"When you began to take off your pants, Anna stopped you, and told you to go into your bedroom and put on shorts. You obeyed, rather more willingly than I would have expected, and returned wearing the gym shorts you have on." Elizabeth attempted to not blush once again as she remembered the sight of him wearing gym shorts and no shirt.

William Darcy was a handsome man, standing several inches over six feet. He had dark hair and dark eyes, but his eyes seemed to possess the ability to see into her soul, and she had often found those eyes pinned on her during their encounters. Added to that, he had a broad muscular frame. Of course, since she normally saw him in suits, she did not realize just how muscular and trim he was, and his ab muscles had nearly made her drool. The smattering of hair on his chest and trailing down his stomach had only made that sensation worse. Anna had nudged Elizabeth after she had stood there just staring at him for several moments after he had come out of the bedroom.

She had paused in her story as she remembered, and realized she was staring at his chest again when she realized that intense stare was once again fixed on her. She gulped, embarrassed to have been caught out. "Anyway," she rushed on, "Anna was able to convince you to go to bed. She had Edward bring both of us our computers and we stayed here together last night, since you had asked me to stay and she did not want to leave me alone all night.

"Anna only left a few hours ago because she had a meeting this morning she could not reschedule." He nodded, then grimaced as apparently, he remembered what the meeting was about.

"I was supposed to be on that meeting, but I guess, feeling as I am, I could not have." He sighed, "Anna will be fine, but I had planned to be there to assist her, if she needed it."

"She felt confident she would be, and Edward was there as well in case she needed anything else," Elizabeth said. "Now, can I get you anything? We have soup, tea, jello? You had nothing in your fridge and Anna ordered groceries to be delivered."

"I need more water, but honestly, I am not very hungry. I think I would like to get out of this bed," he replied.

"We can move to the couch if you would like. Edward dropped off several movies he said you liked, although some of the selections surprised me. I would not have expected you to like so many chick flicks, but Edward swore they were your favorites." William looked up in time to see the teasing glint in her eye.

"Hmmm," he replied. "If you will help me to the couch, I will take a look at these movies he sent over. Surely, we can find at least one we can agree on."

"If your taste in movies is anything like your taste in books, I would think we could find several we could agree on. Anna showed me your library, and I confess I have spent a fair portion of this morning taking a look at it. You have an impressive collection," she told him. "Do you need help standing or walking?"

He groaned as he attempted to move. "I think I may need both. I feel stiff."

She looked worn at his lap and blushed once again and that was when he noticed the way the sheets were slightly tented over a certain part of his anatomy.

He blushed again and stammered, "I am sorry, Elizabeth, but I cannot exactly control that. You are a very beautiful woman and you are in my bedroom, and well, he responds to outside stimuli."

Elizabeth laughed. "Why don't I step outside for a minute and give you chance to get out of bed yourself. You may have some other needs to address as well."

"Come to think of it …" he said as she quickly exited the room.

When she was gone, he moved the sheets and willed his erection to subside. "Good Lord, what she must think of me," he said to himself.

Several minutes later, he appeared at the bedroom door, leaning heavily against it. She looked up with the door opened and saw him leaning against the door frame and rushed over toward him, absently noting that he had covered up his beautiful chest with a t-shirt. "It is probably for the best," she thought.

Elizabeth helped William over to the couch and settled him into a seat before bringing over several of the movies that she was interested seeing. Glancing through the selection, they quickly found one they agreed on and she, with a little help from him, got it ready to play. When it came time for her to sit, she attempted to sit on the other side of the couch.

"If you are nursing me, you shouldn't sit so far away," he said, patting the couch next to him. "You should sit next to me so you can easily tell if I am running a fever."

"Or I can sit over here so you don't share your germs with me," she countered.

He grimaced. "I guess that could be true," he admitted.

She sat down beside him. "I think that if I am to be infected, at this point, I already am. So, sitting next to you shouldn't be that much of a risk," she teased.

He not-so-subtly dropped his arm around her shoulders, and she sent a sideways glance at him but said nothing. Slowly, he pulled her closer and closer until she was resting her head on his shoulder, and they remained this way through the movie. When the movie was over, she looked up at him and saw him watching her. Slowly, their faces drew closer and closer together until their lips just barely touched. Both sprung back, as though shocked, and seeing nothing in her face that indicated she was unwilling, he leaned down and touched his lips to hers again, pressing slightly and moving his lips slowly against hers. When he pulled back after a long moment, he dropped his forehead to hers and attempted to regulate both his breathing and his heartrate, both of which were suddenly coming very quickly. "Elizabeth," he breathed reverently when he found his voice again.

Her hands came up and cupped his face. "Will," she whispered in return before leaning in to press her lips to his again. This time, his tongue caressed her lips and she automatically opened for him as he deepened the kiss. They stopped when he had to pull away to cough.

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth," he said suddenly.

She eyed him warily. "For what?"

"For coughing on you," he replied, just a touch of a smile on his lips. "For having to stop what was quickly becoming a rather marvelous kiss." He paused for a moment. "I am not, even remotely, sorry for kissing you. I vaguely recall a rather direct conversation where we talked about that fact that I like you, and that I have wanted to ask you out, but didn't because of rules, and then I remember something rather foolish about women wanting to sleep with the boss and perhaps mentioning sexual harassment …" he stopped as he realized he was rambling. "I am not apologizing for kissing you, and when I am better, I would very much like to take you on a proper date. Just tell me that I am not screwing all of this up."

"You're not, and I would enjoy going out on a 'proper' date with you, so long as you promise not to behave too properly," she said, then arched the eyebrow that let him know he was about to be teased. "I think I have found that I like you much better when you are not behaving properly."